Harvester and feeder



P 1941- w. A. JOHNSON 2,256,562

HARVESTER AND FEEDER Filed July 22, 1938 lllll'lllllllll'll [IVs/5422012 six [ma Jam/501v 19% Q 2 Patented Sept. 23, 1941 UNITED STATESPATENT-fol?Pics I lrAavas'r n ii fi mere J I I e I William A. Johnson,

Company Application July 22, 1938, Serial No. 220,621

2 Claims.

The present application relates to a harvester and feeder, and moreparticularly to a feeding means intended to be applied to, and used inconnection with a vehicle for carrying or operating upon the material tobe harvested. Specifically, my invention is disclosed in associationwith a transit hay baler, and it is the primary object of the inventionto provide means, associable with and operating in conjunction with atransit hay baler, for rapidly and effectively delivering the crop tothe baling chamber of the machine with which the harvester and feederare associated. Further objects of the invention will appear as thedescription proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention maybe embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawing,attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawing isillustrative only, and that change may be made in the specificconstruction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of theappended claims is not violated.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a hay baler with which the harvester andfeeder may be associated, part of the feeding mechanism being shown isintegrated with the baler;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the feeder, the latter beingshown in some detail;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the feeding mechanism, taken upon a planeparallel with, but spaced rearwardly from, the plane of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, it will be seen in Fig. 1that I have illustrated a hay baler or other vehicle, indicatedgenerally by the reference numeral I0, and carrying a prime mover (notshown), which is connected through suitable belting or gearing to a pairof bull wheels I6, of which only one has been shown.

The shaft of the bull wheel I6 carries a sprocket H which, through achain I8 running over a tensioning idler I9, drives a sprocket 20 (seeFig. 2) of a transmission 2|. The bull wheel I6 meshes with a gear (notshown) connected to drive a. sprocket 23 which, through a chain 24running over a tensioning idler 25, drives the sprocket 26 on a shaft21.

The harvesting mechanism, which may be of any suitable type, isindicated generally by the reference numeral 28 in Figure 1. This har-Vester includes a shear plate, a transversely reciprocable cutter armand a gathering reel.

The material cut by the cutter bar is being deposited on a conveyor (notshown) by the gathering reel.

This material is delivered from the conveyor onto a conveyor carried bythe vehicle, and indicated generally by the reference numeral I00. Itcomprises a shaft IOI journalled in suitable supports on the vehicle,and a companion shaft (not shown) carried by links I03 adjustable aboutthe axis of the shaft IOI. Sprockets I04 on the shaft IM and sprocketson the companion shaft carry two parallel endless bands (not shown) towhich is secured a plurality of flexible aprons (not shown) preferablymade of canvas or the like, said aprons being secured to the bands attheir leading transverseedges and being free at their trailingtransverse edges, the trailing transverse edge of each apron overlappingthe leading transverse edge of the next succeeding apron. Thisparticular structure has been found to be extremely efficient in thehandling of straw, hay, alfalfa, and the like.

A further conveyor I08 cooperates with the conveyor I00 adjacent thedischarge end thereof, said conveyor being threaded over idler sprocketsI09 and III, respectively carried by shafts H0 and H2 and over asprocket I21 carried upon a shaft I21 later to be described. Material isfed, by the conveyors I00 and I08, between a drum H3 and a drum H4. Thedrum H4 is mounted, as is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, for floatingmovement about the axis of the shaft I21; and said drum is formed with aplurality of ribs on its peripheral surface. The ribs H5 of one seriesextend from the righthand end of the drum rearwardly, as considered inconnection with the direction of rotation of the drum, toward the medianplane between the opposite ends of the drum. Similarly, the ribs I I6 ofthe other series extend from the left-hand end of the drum rearwardlytoward the median plane between the ends of the drum. Preferably, theribs of one series are staggered peripherally with respect to the ribsof the other series.

The cooperative effect of the drums H3 and H4 is to force the materialbeing handled to move across the table I28 to and through the inlet portHI into the baling chamber of the illustrated machine; the materialbeing guided in such movement by a shield I29 as shown in Fig. 3.

The transmission 2I includes a gear H8 meshing with the beveled gear 12(Figure 2), and carried upon a shaft H9 (see Fig. 1) which carries asprocket I20. As is illustrated in Fig. 2, a chain I26 leads around thesprocket I20, under sprocket I22, on shaft IOI, over sprocket I23 onshaft [21, under sprocket 124 and over sprocket I25 which is connectedto the drum H3. The

shaft I 21 likewise carries a further sprocket I30 which, through chain130a, drives sprocket I29 carried by thedrum'l I4. 7

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine of the class described, a chamber having an inlet port,a drum mounted adjacent said port,v and means for driving said drum tourge inaterial to and through said port,

said drum being provided on its peripheral sur-- face'with twoseries-ofribs, one series adjacent each end of the drum,each rib of eachseries; 3

extending from a point adjacent an endiof the drum rearwardly, withrespect-to the direction of rotation of the drum, toward'the' medianplane between the ends of the drum.

,plane between the ends of the drum, and the ribs of one series beingperipherally staggered Twith respect to the ribs of the other series.

WILLIAM A. JOHNSON.

